Those who fear losing their jobs due to artificial intelligence have been termed 'post-luddism'

In a study involving academics from Sivas Cumhuriyet University (SCU), the fear of losing one's job due to artificial intelligence was termed "post-luddism".

SCU Faculty of Communication Head of New Media and Communication Department Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sefer Darıcı, Faculty Member of the Department of Public Relations and Publicity Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zekiye Tamer Gencer, Faculty Member of the Vocational School of Health Services Dr. Gülay Demir, Prof. Dr. Muhammed Rias from the University of the Punjab in Pakistan, and Prof. Dr. Dragan Pamucar from the University of Belgrade in Serbia conducted research on professional groups in the communication sector who fear losing their jobs due to artificial intelligence.

Project coordinator Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sefer Darıcı told an AA reporter that with the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies into human life, the fear of losing one's profession has also begun to come to the fore.

Stating that artificial intelligence has begun to show its impact much more noticeably, especially in fields such as public relations, advertising, and journalism within the communication sector, Darıcı said, "In our study, we wanted to understand how the fear of artificial intelligence affects people working in the communication sector and whether it creates a fear of losing their jobs."

"JOURNALISTS EXPERIENCE THE GREATEST FEAR OF LOSING THEIR JOBS"

Stating that they conducted various studies, one-on-one interviews, and surveys in this context, Darıcı said:

"As a result, a situation emerged where journalists, in particular, experience the greatest fear of losing their jobs due to artificial intelligence, and this is even associated with a tendency to cause harm. This is the case in many sectors and different fields, but it is much more prevalent in the communication sector, and it surprised us that it was highest among journalists."

"THE CONCEPT HAS ENTERED THE LITERATURE BY BEING PUBLISHED IN A JOURNAL FOR THE FIRST TIME"

Explaining that they introduced a concept related to this into the literature for the first time and that the article was published in the journal Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Darıcı said:

"Luddism refers to machine-breaking, especially during the time of the second industrial revolution. Luddism is a concept that describes people who feared losing their jobs at that time breaking the technological machines they held responsible for this fear. We investigated whether this concept has a modern equivalent with artificial intelligence."

"We named the fear of losing one's job due to artificial intelligence, and even the tendency to harm artificial intelligence, 'Post-Luddism'. The concept has entered the literature by being published in a journal for the first time. We hope that many different studies on this will be conducted in the future, and we are also continuing our efforts to have the word included in the Oxford dictionary as the word of the year for 2024. I hope we achieve a successful result."

Pointing out that we are going through a period where it is very difficult to distinguish what artificial intelligence produces from reality, Darıcı said, "When considered in the context of news content being produced automatically, a situation that truly worries professionals in the field can emerge."

Darıcı also said that artificial intelligence has an aspect that facilitates the work of graphic designers in particular.

Explaining that this also brings with it the fear of losing one's job, Darıcı said, "Here, being qualified and adapting oneself to artificial intelligence technologies, and being able to use this technology, becomes important alongside being a journalist, graphic designer, or advertiser. In other words, it is not the case that this technology will necessarily result in us losing our jobs. We need to put our minds to how we can adapt this technology to our work and make our jobs more efficient."

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zekiye Tamer Gencer stated that considering the communication technologies that have developed and changed in recent years, the impact of artificial intelligence is extremely high.

Expressing that they addressed the problems that will arise from the use of artificial intelligence-based technologies by individuals in the digital world created by changing and developing communication technologies, Gencer said, "In our article, we addressed for the first time whether artificial intelligence poses a threat to professional practitioners from a different perspective."

"WE TRIED TO CREATE A NEW AREA OF DISCUSSION"

Stating that their first perspective in the article was the concept of "luddism", which is defined in the literature as the act of breaking machines that people showed against newly developing technologies centuries ago, Gencer continued as follows:

"Think of it this way: instead of a human plowing a field, a machine does it, and the person might pick up an axe and break the machine out of fear that it will take their job away. We were inspired by this while conducting this study.

"At the point we have reached centuries later, a new technology, a machine, has actually been invented that has the potential to take people's professional jobs away from them. Since people cannot pick up an axe and break artificial intelligence, how will this be dealt with? We actually tried to create a new area of discussion in this study."

Stating that they determined this situation creates the most anxiety among journalists, Gencer emphasized that artificial intelligence is a field that can work with capabilities far superior to human intelligence but can never convey the emotion and excitement that humans possess.

Faculty Member Dr. Gülay Demir expressed that they are happy to have introduced the "Post-Luddism" concept into the literature for the first time.

Demir stated that in the study, they decided that only fuzzy logic would evaluate the decision made by artificial intelligence, and they used two different methods together for the first time.

Stating that they conducted a nice hybrid study with two different methods they brought together for the first time, Demir added that they are hopeful that the word they introduced to the literature will be a candidate for "word of the year" in the Oxford dictionary in 2024.

News Source: AA